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Most casual Australian college basketball fans will be aware of the incredible success that the St Mary's Gaels have enjoyed over the years with talent from the Australian Institute of Sport, but the Eastern Washington Eagles receive barely any attention for their own similar developing pipeline. The Eagles have enjoyed great success since the program's first Australian player graced the hardwood of Reese Court -- Jordan Hickert, in 2011. To go along with their NCAA tournament appearance in 2015 -- only their second in school history - the Eagles have had only one losing season in Big Sky play (2012-13). In fact, in the 13 seasons, since the Eagles' first NCAA tournament appearance, in 2004, the past four campaigns, with no fewer than three Australians on the roster, have been their best. Consistent flow is the key to any successful pipeline, and Eastern Washington is seeing just that: when one Australian leaves the program, another arrives. This off-season, we see the departure of Michael Wearne and Felix Von Hofe, but freshman guard Jack Perry is ready to take the court in their place. For new head coach, Shantay Legans, who has been an assistant coach at the Eagles for the past eight seasons, the pipeline is instrumental for the success of his program. "It's been a big deal for us," Legans tells ESPN. "There's some really great people over in Australia that [former Eagles coach Jim Hayford] introduced me to that I'm going to be lifetime friends with. They'll call me on guys and say 'he's a hell of a player'. I can't thank everyone over there enough. That country has been great to us."  Much like St Mary's with Matthew Dellavedova, Eastern Washington also have their own flagship Australian star -- a player who broke school records and epitomised the way basketball is played at his program. His name is Venky Jois. Jois averaged 14.8 points per game in his four years at Eastern Washington,, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer. He also broke the school's all-time blocks record with 240. Much like Dellavedova with Gaels fans, there were a plethora of Eagles fans sporting the No. 55 on their backs during his time in Cheney; there still are. Looking back to his first time on campus, Jois said that he felt right at home almost immediately, and a lot of that had to do with his Australian teammates. "Whenever you can get not only some Australians there but also more internationals, you don't feel as home sick," Jois tells ESPN. "Eastern is really huge on bringing in international talent. Going through the same experience with other people, it makes it easier." Sophomore Mason Peatling, whom coach Legens believes has a chance to be the winning-most player in Eagles history, had similar thoughts when explaining why he felt so comfortable about committing to EWU. "The coaches have a lot to do with it because they've dealt with international guys before. Whether it's on the court or off the court, they [make us feel at home]." Jois committed to EWU after coach Hayford visited him in Australia. For Jois, that was the determining factor for choosing the Eagles. Some coaches would scout Australian players only via clips on the internet, and call them on the phone, but Hayford took his level of recruitment one step further. Hayford was also the driving force behind the recruitment of junior Jesse Hunt, who says the coach is one of the nicest guys he's met. "He cares about the classroom, he cares about my family; he cares about everything. He makes it feel like a second home."  Hayford targeted Australian talent after he and his staff saw something special in the way they played the game of basketball; for Legens, it was the tenacity with which the players played each and every game. "They're tough kids," he says. "I'm a big believer that tough beats talent. I believe that we'll get to the place where we have tough talent. That's a big key. [Australians] love the game of basketball just like Americans do so there are a lot of different [types of] players that play over there. It's really changing the whole landscape of college basketball. Now we're not the only [school] going over there." And that realisation of the strength and depth of Australian talent poses a problem for Legens and his staff because bigger schools now have started to cotton on to the talent pool available Down Under. "There's some really good talent over there that are getting recruited," Legens said. "It's becoming a real hotbed. That's making it a bit harder to go over and sneak a couple of guys out." Jois agrees, saying the bigger schools "realise that there's great talent out there, great Australian players that perhaps otherwise might have fallen through the cracks". "It is so much bigger now than even from when I was recruited, and when I got recruited it was bigger than even five years before that. If [Andrew Bogut and Patrick Mills] were American born, with their talent, athleticism, skill, everything like that, they might have been at Kentucky or one of the elite schools."  Legens' passion for EWU's Aussie pipeline, and its potential to get even bigger, is clear. That's why it's so important to him and his staff to make their players feel right at home as soon as they arrive on campus. It's his philosophy that the better you can make the environment around you, the more likely it is that these student-athletes will help you recruit future players from their region down the track. "Australian basketball is a really tight-knit group. You know, you're talking to someone who is friends with a kid we're recruiting. That does help when you have guys who will go over and talk to [potential recruits] about the experience they've had. When they do that, that's a plus and a bonus." This is exactly how Michael Wearne entered the program. He had played at the same junior club in Australia as Jois, and the latter got to work after Wearne approached him and told him that he wanted to play together at EWU. Legens loves this 'word of mouth" recruiting, but the trail doesn't stop there for the coach him and his staff. At the beginning of last season, Eastern Washington took their players on a preseason trip to Australia. The trip gave the Australian players an opportunity to play in front of their family and friends again -- some for the first time in a very long time; for the next generation of potential college basketball talent, the trip also planted a seed that Eastern Washington was the place for any aspiring college athlete in Australia. "[The tour] helped a lot because [potential recruits] get to see the style of play we do," Legens says. "They get to watch and interact with our guys. We get to show how the program has been built. These younger kids that get to watch us say, 'those guys are really cool'. That sticks in the back of their minds because they're watching us in person. It's one thing to watch us on TV but if you're meeting the coach and meeting the players, it's a big deal."  Peatling, who had still yet to play a game for the Eagles at the time of the tour, agrees with this sentiment. "We had a bunch of young kids watching us and coming up to us after the game wanting to take pictures. I remember going to watch St Mary's when I was a kid and that was a big deal. To be a part of the Eastern Washington team that came down is very special." Hunt says the tour "definitely helped the people that were watching realise that Hayford [and the coaching staff] really cares about the people from Australia." The coming season will see at least four Australians suit up for the Eagles (St Mary's will have at least six, for the record) as they attempt to avenge their Big Sky semifinal loss. While there may not be as many Australians on the roster this season compared with last, that doesn't mean that the pipeline is coming to an end; according to Legens, it's just the beginning. "We want to build it up as much as we can. We have two scholarships for our '18 class [and] we're looking at a couple of Australians. I mean, I'm looking all the way down to '19-'20 just looking at the talent. I see us recruiting there for a long time." And that's exactly what Australia wants, too. Because as much as Aussies love seeing their players at big time programs - such as Kentucky, Duke or Miami - Australian basketball will be better still if the college pipelines continue to flow and grow.
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